10 Years Ago

Today, 10 years ago, I joined my heart and life to a beautiful, sincere, honest and compassionate woman - my precious Krissy.  250 family and friends from Germany, New Jersey, Texas, Michigan, Minnesota, Virginia, Indiana and Nashville came to celebrate our day with us.  I'm so grateful for each of them being there.  I'm grateful for our parents helping to make this day so special for us.  It's hard to believe that was already ten years ago.  To be cliche, it seems like only yesterday.  I remember being emotionally moved looking out over the crowd and seeing 27 years of my life coming together for those few hours. 

It was a beautiful, sunny, late spring day.  I remember it being a bit hot and humid by the time everyone crowded into the little reformed church at 11am.  This was the church Krissy grew up in and it was a special day for her to be with all of her family and friends.  We were blessed that our pastor, Dale Evrist (New Song Christian Fellowship), could fly up for the weekend and marry us.

So much has happened since that day 10 years ago.  We have grown into a family of four and have so many precious memories of our time together - too many to list in one post. 

Tonight, I will be renewing my vows (which we personally wrote to each other) again to my bride.  As I read them, I realize how naive I was about marriage.  I wrote those vows as though I was a knight in shining armor - perfect and strong.  I'm ashamed to say, I haven't always lived up to them.  Over the years, I've fallen short.  I've been selfish.  I've been and said many things that were stupid and weak.  However, through it all, my wife has granted me a beautiful gift of grace.  We've learned God's place in our marriage ("...a threefold cord is not quickly broken..." - Ecclesiastes 4:9-12).  He has been and always will be our strength.  He alone has been our shield.  Because of His grace, we've been able to grow and flourish together.   

I sit here amazed at how much I've grown deeper in love with the woman I married since that day in May.  Right now, I'm just thankful that God knew what I needed.  He gave me a best friend, lover and companion 10 years ago.  I pray I get thousands more days to love her. 

Happy Anniversary Krissy!  I love you.

'Post-American' World?

Fareed Zakaria, author of Post-American World, in Newsweek just a few weeks ago, posted an enriching opinion article on the rise of the West beginning in the 15th Century, the rise of America, beginning in the 19th Century and we are watching before us, as we write in the 21st Century, the 'rise of the rest'.  The 'rest' are countries such as China, India, Russia and Brazil.  These countries are fast becoming super powers, financially speaking, in our exploding global economy.  Anybody own International mutual funds?  Have you seen the growth?!

I highly encourage you to read the Newsweek article entitled The Rise of the Rest.  Zakaria goes into detail about globalization and how America has been one of the leading proponents of globalization.  Ironically, we don't seem to want to change with the rest of the world too quickly, however.  Small, but important, example: there are only 3 countries in the world that don't use the metric system: Liberia, Myanmar and the United States!  I don't see the other two countries as up to date, do you?!

Despite what I thought I might feel before reading the article, I surprisingly felt encouraged and challenged when I finished it.  Zakaria challenges Americans and American culture and business to continue to globalize and change with the rise of the rest of the world.  In this, a very important political year, we have some key leadership decisions to make, as voting citizens.  Will we choose to rise with the coming international tide or risk losing our competitive advantages?

I agree with Zakaria, we have a strong competitive advantage that is unique to us as Americans.  By our historical acceptance of immigrants and by our system of prosperity and freedom that inspires so many poor immigrants to come to this country and aspire to make more of themselves, we have become prosperous.  We need to not limit this advantage.  It creates in us as a culture so much joy, enthusiasm and hope to know that we can do anything we want here in America.  We can be anything we set our minds and hearts to do.  We can have anything we desire.  We can worship freely here.  'What freedoms we have here compared to the rest of the world!!', we say.  Meanwhile, China, India, Russia and Brazil have seen this prosperity and learned from us (my opinion) and now we're seeing those countries quickly rise too. 

While here in the US, over the last 10 years, recent polls (mentioned in the Newsweek article) have shown that we are increasingly more negative about our own country that ever before. Let's not let this continue!  Wouldn't you rather want God-given freedoms than more government setting more and more boundaries and rules for you?  We have as big a potential as we've ever had to lead once again in all industry or, atleast, be competitive.  It will take leadership and inspiration for our country to feel and experience again what the 'rest' of the world seems to be experiencing today. 

A wise man recently told me "Rising Tides Lift All Ships".  We must share in the overall rise of the tide of the rest of the world. We played a large role in the rising of that tide.  There are tremendous economic opportunities for our country in the coming decades - however, we must be willing to adapt to the natural globalization that is occuring amongst us.  Our world is getting smaller - let's embrace it and not fight it or hide from it. 

This brings me to my final point.  As Christians, how are we going to let globalization affect us?  Are we to hide in our American bubble or be open to what God is doing around the world?  As Christians, are we going to embrace different cultures in our own communities?  For years, we've been sending missionaries outside the United States and brought our culture to their world.  Now, God is giving us a gift back - we see more and more missionaries coming to America from other countries.  And, they are bringing their unique culture to our country.  Are we going to accept this gift as freely as we've expected others to accept ours? 

More specifically, what are we going to do with Christian music and worship music?  How much longer will we primarily export our 'brand' of music to the world?  What about other cultures?  What would happen if we went to church on Sunday and your worship leader began teaching you a new powerful translated song originally written in another tongue?  What if it was arranged with unique instrumentation or a different genre like tribal dance or even dance/trance/electronic music?  It would be kinda cool for a weekend.  But, what if this continued Sunday after Sunday for weeks?  Would that rock your comfort zone?  How would we respond?  What are we afraid of?  I say, let's embrace the new emerging genres and music that God is giving to musicians, artists and churches around the world.  Let the American church receive it!  Let's enjoy the rising tides to come!  Embrace the global culture and watch your ship be lifted higher than you would have ever imagined in your American bubble!

Click on this link to view Fareed Zakaria's four reasons why America will stay competitive in a changing world: 

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1511792808/bclid1540999423/bctid1541038678

For more interesting posts like this one every week, head over the Watercooler Wednesdays at the Randy Elrod - Ethos Blog!

Narnia II - Prince Caspian

On a rainy Memorial Day yesterday, my family and I went to see The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.  I had minimal expectations because I didn't LOVE the first one.  But, about an hour into, I was really enjoying this movie.  AND, it just got better and better from there.  It's a solid story, redeeming message, good acting, plot and action - lots and lots of action.  It was a great movie to see with the family.  The only scene the boys (6 & 8) had to cover their eyes was the part where they were tempted by the White Witch.  The rest was excellent.  I found myself still playing out scenes in the movie a few hours later as I tried to fall asleep.  I know it's good when that happens.  Go see Prince Caspian with your family - it was very good.  Better yet, read the book with your kids first.  That's what we did.  They were really into it.

Coldplay - Viva La Vida

I'm looking forward to the new Coldplay album.  Sounds like there are some great spiritual overtones to the album.  I'm looking forward to digging into it.  These guys remind me of U2.

Check out this exclusive review I just read:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/bizarre/article1202492.ece

Just watched the first video from the album:

Performance Digital Royalties Top Mechanicals in the UK

By Susan Butler, N.Y.

The collecting arm for U.K. mechanical and performance rights societies MCPS and PRS today (May 22)reports that combined revenue from broadcasting and digital uses for the first time have out-performed revenue from recorded physical product.

In announcing record-breaking collections of more than over £562 million ($1.1 billion) in 2007, the MCPS-PRS Alliance noted that online royalties of £10 million ($20 million), which grew by 54% since the prior year, are still a small portion of overall revenue.

A 20% increase in royalties from live pop concerts and improved licensing activity among leisure and industrial premises drove the increase in overall public performance revenue.

The 11% decrease in royalties from the worldwide downturn in physical unit sales to £151.8 million ($303.9 million) was mitigated in the United Kingdom, in part, by improvements in licensing other new formats such as pre-loaded USB sticks and musical novelties.

"Much is written about the state of the music industry, but these results show a healthy story about the increased use of music in almost all areas of our business," says Alliance chief executive Steve Porter.

While the number of transasctions processed by the Alliance increased by 40% since the prior year, the cost of collecting and distributing royalties was just over 10% of total revenues.

Overseas territories that generated the highest revenues in the U.K. were the United States, Germany and France.

The Alliance collects performance and mechanical royalties from broadcasters, online service providers, record companies and other businesses that perform music.

To Read The Full Article, go to Billboard.biz - Global

Friday New Music Review - Norway's Lester

This week I discovered a gem out of the stack of CDs I took home from GMA Week.  A band out of Norway called Lester.  Their CD This Village (available on iTunes) has been in my player since Monday.  I was first struck by the cool artwork of the project.  Then, I popped it in the player and WOW - the music and artwork were perfect. 

My favorite cuts on the album are the first 7.  You can hear 3 tunes on the Lester myspace.  You Make Me Wonder is a fantastic opening cut, This Village has an incredible hook, Love makes you want to slow dance with your sweetheart and it just gets better and better from there. 

To sum it up: great 70's grooves, fun summer top-down-in-your-car chillin' music and vocals like Maroon 5.  Very current, very good!  Maybe we can get them to the US!  I'm in contact with Mudi Distribution now...we'll see.

Patrons of Change

I'm a subscriber to a podcast called Patrons of Change.  Every month I'm updated with content, information and news I can use to build my businesses and flush out my business ideas.  If you're a founder of a business anywhere, you'll find this website, podcast and the meetings to be valuable entrepreneurial resources and encouragement.

Every month I try to make their Entrepreneurial Meetup at the Sportsman’s Lodge in Brentwood/Cool Springs.  Patrons of Change was founded by Lucas Parry and Marc Krejci.  They are also friends of mine.  I distribute Lucas Parry music product at Go Global Entertainment.   

In this month's episode of the Patrons of Change podcast Marc Krecji sat down with Dr. Jeffrey R. Cornwall who is the Jack C. Massey Chair in Entrepreneurship at Belmont University’s Center for Entrepreneurship. One of the great ways to change the world is through business, and understanding the dynamics of how to start and run your own business can be overwhelming.  Dr. Cornwall discusses what makes an entrepreneur, what it takes to be an entrepreneur, the current business climate and dispels some popular myths about entrepreneurship.

What Steven Curtis Chapman Has Meant To Me

From Crosswalk.com today...

"According to an Associated Press report, the family of contemporary Christian music star Steven Curtis Chapman suffered a horrible tragedy Wednesday when 5-year-old daughter Maria was struck and killed by an SUV in her own driveway. Deepening their loss is the fact that the Toyota Land Cruiser was driven by Maria's older teenage brother, who apparently did not see his little sister."  To read the full article go to Crosswalk.com.

I was so saddened to hear of the tragic death of SCC's 5 year old daughter this morning.  The Chapman's have long been role models in the world of Christian music on different levels - as a family, as a singer, as a couple and as a songwriter. A winner of 5 Grammy's and 51 Dove Awards, I know he would give every single one of them back in exchange for his daughter.   

For me personally, I still remember Steven being overjoyed and giving me a hug when he learned that I accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior that same week.  I've followed his career ever since before I started my Christian walk.  A friend of mine asked me to edit a video they were doing for their Christian camp.  They wanted to do a montage of video using the song "The Great Adventure".  I was given the CD and immediately became a fan of Steven Curtis Chapman.  His music was one of the seeds God planted in my heart in my Christian faith walk.  Then, later I came to learn more about him, his family and his music working in the Christian music industry.  Everything I've ever seen, read or heard about him was positive.  I've personally seen him be gracious to people that didn't deserve it. 

So, in this time of mourning and sorrow in the Chapman family, I mourn with them.  Please grant him, his wife, his son and his family grace as they grieve the death of their beautiful adopted daughter.  Having a family myself with 2 boys, I can only imagine what this family is going through.  My heart, prayers and thoughts go out to them today.  Chapman family, draw near to God and He will draw near to you (James 4:8).

Click here to read more about the Chapman's ministry, Shaohannah's Hope.

Steven Curtis Chapman

From Crosswalk.com today...

"According to an Associated Press report, the family of contemporary Christian music star Steven Curtis Chapman suffered a horrible tragedy Wednesday when 5-year-old daughter Maria was struck and killed by an SUV in her own driveway. Deepening their loss is the fact that the Toyota Land Cruiser was driven by Maria's older teenage brother, who apparently did not see his little sister."  To read the full article go to Crosswalk.com.

I was so saddened to hear of the tragic death of SCC's 5 year old daughter this morning.  The Chapman's have long been role models in the world of Christian music on different levels - as a family, as a singer, as a couple and as a songwriter. A winner of 5 Grammy's and 51 Dove Awards, I know he would give every single one of them back in exchange for his daughter.   

For me personally, I still remember Steven being overjoyed and giving me a hug when he learned that I accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior that same week.  I've followed his career ever since before I started my Christian walk.  A friend of mine asked me to edit a video they were doing for their Christian camp.  They wanted to do a montage of video using the song "The Great Adventure".  I was given the CD and immediately became a fan of Steven Curtis Chapman.  His music was one of the seeds God planted in my heart in my Christian faith walk.  Then, later I came to learn more about him, his family and his music working in the Christian music industry.  Everything I've ever seen, read or heard about him was positive.  I've personally seen him be gracious to people that didn't deserve it. 

So, in this time of mourning and sorrow in the Chapman family, I mourn with them.  Please grant him, his wife, his son and his family grace as they grieve the death of their beautiful adopted daughter.  Having a family myself with 2 boys, I can only imagine what this family is going through.  My heart, prayers and thoughts go out to them today.  Chapman family, draw near to God and He will draw near to you (James 4:8).

Click here to read more about the Chapman's ministry, Shaohannah's Hope.

Spa Anyone?!

Today, we pampered ourselves.  Next week, Krissy and I celebrate 10 years of marriage.  So, in honor of the boys last full day of school, we booked a 60-minute Swedish Massage at Adagio Massage Co. & Spa for our last day of freedom and bliss. 

All in all, for the price ($70 per person), I would rate Adagio on Division Street a 6 out of 10.  The most important part, the massage, was good.  The things that could use improving there include better wine selection, fresh-baked desserts and a better overall vibe/mood/atmosphere.  It seemed a bit business-like - especially in the building they were in.  However, I think all of this could be easily done.  I wish them well.

Now that my fingers and wrist are relaxed again and ready for more blogging, I want to ask you to rate the top spas in your area.  Krissy and I want to visit more spas for vacations - particularly for a 3-4 day mini-vacation together.  Can you recommend some?  I'd love to hear from you!

God's "Unreasonable" Faith

Having God’s "Unreasonable" Faith

Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you —Matthew 6:33

When we look at these words of Jesus, we immediately find them to be the most revolutionary that human ears have ever heard. ". . . seek first the kingdom of God . . . ." Even the most spiritually-minded of us argue the exact opposite, saying, "But I must live; I must make a certain amount of money; I must be clothed; I must be fed." The great concern of our lives is not the kingdom of God but how we are going to take care of ourselves to live. Jesus reversed the order by telling us to get the right relationship with God first, maintaining it as the primary concern of our lives, and never to place our concern on taking care of the other things of life.

". . . do not worry about your life. . ." ( Matthew 6:25 ). Our Lord pointed out that from His standpoint it is absolutely unreasonable for us to be anxious, worrying about how we will live. Jesus did not say that the person who takes no thought for anything in his life is blessed— no, that person is a fool. But Jesus did teach that His disciple must make his relationship with God the dominating focus of his life, and to be cautiously carefree about everything else in comparison to that. In essence, Jesus was saying, "Don’t make food and drink the controlling factor of your life, but be focused absolutely on God." Some people are careless about what they eat and drink, and they suffer for it; they are careless about what they wear, having no business looking the way they do; they are careless with their earthly matters, and God holds them responsible. Jesus is saying that the greatest concern of life is to place our relationship with God first, and everything else second.

It is one of the most difficult, yet critical, disciplines of the Christian life to allow the Holy Spirit to bring us into absolute harmony with the teaching of Jesus in these verses.

Today's reading from "My Utmost For His Highest" by Oswald Chambers.

(c) 1992 by Oswald Chambers Publications Association, Ltd.

Blogging & Watercooler Wednesday

Hello Everybody - it's late Tuesday / early on Wednesday morning and I just can't stop messing with my blog.  It's Ethos' Watercooler Wednesday.  This is my second Watercooler post.  The cooler is fun because you get to read what others are writing about. 

Ever since I took the Lifework 2.0 class with Randy Elrod and Spence Smith a few weeks ago, I've been nuts about blogging.  I have so much yet to learn, but I'm enjoying the process.  I encourage you to attend a future Lifework 2.0 class or any reputable class about blogging. 

I've become convinced even in this short time that everyone should blog.  If you are a leader in any capacity at all, you should blog about what, why, who, where and how you lead.  If you are a business owner, blog about your expertise.  If you have a passion for something, write about it.  If you have family far away and want to keep them informed, write about it.  Randy Elrod has a wonderful Top 10 List on why you should blog. 

If you want to learn more about Blogging Basics, check out Blogging Basics 101.  I found it very useful! 

A few weeks ago, I heard God clearly say to me "write".  That's when I started pursuing blogging and journaling.  It's been a wonderful journey so far.   I look to you...fellow bloggers...to continue sharing advice and tips on how to blog better.  Thanks for being on this journey with me!

Korea Christian Rights Fair & Marketsquare Asia Events

I'm a member of the Christian Trade Association International.  I find the benefits to be very good as I sell and marketing Christian music globally.  Here is a recent press release regarding their Marketsquare Asia event and the Korea Christian Rights Fair...

ChristianTrade Assoc. International announced that Marketsquare Asia (Sept. 7-9 in Hong Kong) will also include the Korea Christian Rights Fair, Sept. 4-5, 2008 in Seoul. The event last year was so popular that ChristianTrade extended it an extra day and urges attendance from Christian publishers interested in selling translation rights to Korean publishers. The timing of the event also allows interested publishers the opportunity to participate in the new Indonesian Christian Book Fair scheduled for Sept. 12-13.

“With over 70 Korean Christian publishers participating in 2007, we decided to make it a two-day event this year,” Jim Powell, ChristianTrade president explained. “Korea is the largest rights market in the world for Christian publishers, so this event is ‘required’ for those seriously about capitalizing on their content. Plus, I am very excited to be able to support the launch of the Indonesian Christian Book Fair the following week. We are seeing dramatic increases in the distribution of Christian resources in many countries. But, to find this kind of enthusiasm for a public proclamation of faith in the world’s largest Muslim country is a miracle that could only come from God.”

For more information about Marketsquare Asia and the Korea Christian Rights Fair, please e-mail info@ChristianTrade.com. To participate as an exhibitor, contact Gary Foster (+1-419-238-4082 or gfoster@ChristianTrade.com).

Flag Football Post Game Party

Well, the season is almost over.  One more game to go.  We're 5-2, I believe.  We experienced a tough loss this past Saturday against the Franklin Steelers 5-6 team.  They were amazing...scratch that...they had one kid (coach's son) who was amazing.  He also got the ball 90% of the time.  A little unfair, but that's okay, the boys don't even remember it.  Kaden scored all the points (proud dad comment).  For the record, he's a coaches son also. 

Afterwards, we had our end of the season party at Marble Slab Creamery.  The boys obviously had a great time...as you can see by the pics.  Kaden is the one with the chocolate ice cream moustache.  Alex is in the red.  I am so proud to be coaching these boys.  It's great for me and I think the boys and their families are having a great time too. 

Even though another season is over, I have only 3 months to wait until the next one starts!  I think I'll coach both Alex and Kaden together on the same team.  We'll see what happens...

Korean Christian Music Market 2007 Summary

Every year I receive a thorough overview from one of my Christian music distributors in (South) Korea on the current state of the Korean music marketplace.  Here are some highlights from that report I thought would be interesting to share with you...

Mainstream music sales have grown from nearly US$400 Million (about 416 Billion Korean Won) in sales in 2004 to just under US$500 Million in 2007. 

Digital music sales have almost doubled to $393 Million in sales vs. $90 Million in physical CD sales.  That means about 20% of sales in 2007 came from physical CD sales. Compare that with physical sales being about 50% of the total market in 2004.

Total Christian music sales in Korea in 2004 were at about $11.5 Million.  Digital music sales comprised of less than 5% of sales then.  In 2007, Korea saw total Christian music sales decline to $9.1 Million.  Of that amount, about 42% of sales revenues came from digital.

While the loss of sales in the physical moved to the digital sales in the mainstream, the Christian digital music sales have not increased to compensate for the loss of the Christian physical CD sales.  The Christian music market in general has actually declined by 21% between 2004 and 2007 year end.

Sales by Christian music genre breaks down this way:

61% Worship & Hymns (Church music)
17% Adult Contemporary/Pop
11% Instrumental
9% Kids
2% Misc.

According to the report, Korea has seen an significant decrease in sales of AC/Pop sales compared with 2006 - about a 5% decline from 22% to 17% of the market.  The rest of the genres of increased slightly from 2006.

Domestic Christian music sales dominate the marketplace.  In 2007, over 70% of the music sales came from domestic/Korean language music product.  The remaining 30% came from import and international licensing of Christian music.

Korea has seen an increase in Christian crossover artists selling their music in the mainstream and Christian marketplaces.  Artists such as Heritage, Danny Jung, July and Lena Park have all done crossover albums and sold them in the mainstream.  This is something the US experienced with artists like Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith in the early 1990's.

Here are some performance links I found on YouTube that you might find interesting...

Korean Gospel Music Group - Heritage YouTube Live Performance

Instrumentalist - Danny Jung YouTube Amazing Grace Performance

Lena Park - Lena Park YouTube Live Performance

Lena Park - Link to YesAsia (Buy Site)

The popularity of music purchased digitally is due mainly to the popularization of high speed internet, improved mobile phone networks and the popularity of cheap mp3 players in the market. (I found a great article on the history of the sales of mp3 players in Korea from JoongAng Daily -Korea's leading daily English language newspaper online.)

These popular websites service most of the Christian digital content in Korea: melon.com, ccmlove.com and godpeople.com.  Christian music sites like ilikeccm.com, for example, are getting 900 unique vistors per day currently!  Another website that is open to carrying more Christian music and digital content is interpark.com - Koreas leading online mall (seems to me to be just like Amazon.com).   

According to the report from my distributor, the DRM-free market is stabilizing and more and more consumers are purchasing digital music from legal sources. 

Obviously, with trends in the mainstream showing the looming death of physical CD sales in Korea and the rise of digital music sales, the Christian music market needs to go that way as well.  Domestic/Korean language Christian music digital sales account for the major majority of sales digitally.  An interesting point - I could not find English language Christian music sold digitally on any of these sites.  I found it difficult, because of the language barrier, to distinguish CDs from mp3s, but it seemed only physical CDs of the most popular music (Hillsong, Michael W. Smith, Delirious?, etc.) is available on these Christian websites in Korea.  I assume iTunes Korea has them (via the US connections), but I did not check those. 

I have 2 questions for the industry. 

1. Is American/English language Christian music available for download on these highly targeted digital sales sites? 

2. If not, what is keeping this from happening? 

It seems, looking at the research, that there is great potential in Korea for English Language music as well.  Many of the popular Korean artists sing songs in English too. 

I draw several conclusions from my research today. Music sales are stronger than ever in Korea.  Faith-based music in Korea is alive and well, but the lack of availability of English-language content digitally has fallen behind which has accounted for the drop in overall Christian music sales in the market.  The purchasing power of Korean consumers is strong; between 26 - 46% of Korean consumers consider themselves to be Christian.  The church and Christian artists in Korea are producing quality music with top production value.  They are delivering it via many Christian and mainstream online and digital outlets available in the highly developed Korean society.  I would expect English-language content to be more available in 2008 as more English-language content becomes available and digital sales to grow in 2008.  We'll see - more on this this time next year!

Other Notable Articles, Associations, Blogs and Commentaries on Korea and Music:
Wikipedia - K-pop
KoreanPopWars
Korea Music Copyright Association
Copycare Korea
GMA Korea
Largest Church in the World
Souloist.blogspot.com
Christianity in Korea

Major Religions Ranked By Size

I found a great article on World Religions by Adherents.com.  Adherents.com is a growing collection of over 43,870 adherent statistics and religious geography citations: references to published membership/adherent statistics and congregation statistics for over 4,200 religions, churches, denominations, religious bodies, faith groups, tribes, cultures, movements, ultimate concerns, etc. The religions of the world are enumerated here.

Basically, researchers can use this site to answer such questions as "How many Lutherans live in Wisconsin?", "What are the major religions of India?", or "What percentage of the world is Muslim?" We present data from both primary research sources such as government census reports, statistical sampling surveys and organizational reporting, as well as citations from secondary literature which mention adherent statistics.

International Arts Movement

I recently visited a new website I thought was interesting.  If you are interested in affecting the global culture using the arts, this might be a good organization to affiliate with - IAM: International Arts Movement.  I haven't done much research on them, but from taking a glance at their website, I find them to be deeply concerned about faith, arts and the international culture.  So, they fit in with my blog topics.  Check them out at www.internationalartsmovement.org. 

Krissy Nordhoff - GMA Week Performance

My wife, Krissy Nordhoff, sang at Gospel Music Week 2008 just a few weeks ago.  Our radio promoter, Wendell Gafford, captured the performance on video with a 3 camera shoot.  Here she is singing "Lay It All Down", her next single to Christian radio.  Her last single, "Outrageous Love", went to #9 on Christian Radio Weekly's Inspirational Radio Chart.

I Was A Pickle This Week

I played a pickle this Sunday in our church's Carpenter's Kids program.  However, I looked strangely like a famous cucumber.  My name was Percy and I made kids laugh by pretending to get mad when everyone else in the skit called me a cucumber - even though I really was a pickle.  I was very sweet in the beginning and ended up getting very angry and bitter in the end.  Take a look at that picture and ask yourself how could such a sweet cucumber looking pickle be mad at anyone?  What can I say - anything for the kids!

Golf with Mom

My mom came to visit us for Mother's Day this weekend.  My dad was away in Germany visiting his mom.  Since my mom is a golf fanatic (even more than me) she and I got a chance to play 42 holes over the long weekend.  Every guy friend of mine I told about my mom coming and that we would be playing golf, couldn't believe it.  I'd watch their eyes pop out of their heads and their jaws drop in complete awe that my mom and I played golf together.  I think there was a hint of jealousy in it as well.  I guess it's not very common to have a mom that loves to play golf.  It may be every son's dream to play a sport with their mom or every husband's dream to play a sport together with his wife.  Well, I guess I'm lucky and blessed to have a mom I can play sports with.

By the way, we played Bluegrass Golf and Yacht Club on Friday, The Fairways of Spencer Creek on Monday.  I'd recommend Bluegrass for the serious golf enthusiast.  Spencer Creek is a par 3 course. It's local and cheap.

Coaching Flag Football

Here's a short video with music I made quickly of our boys latest victory in YMCA flag football.  Yours truly was the coach.  I'm a proud papa.

Download 5308ChiefsHighlightsFlagFootball.wmv   

Global City Church Planting

Senior Pastor, Tim Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City posted a fantastic article on church planting in city centers across the globe.  Key Point: Engage the culture.  Don't shy away from it.  Engage and you'll be amazed at the response the world gives you.  Here's how...

63 Things to Do With Your Kids Before They Grow Up

Southwest Airlines' in-flight magazine, Spirit, from April of this year wrote one of my favorite articles of the year so far.  If you have kids, you gotta read this.  It's a perfect fit for me.  Two things I love: action and lists!   

ACTION - Give me a ball and I can't wait to start throwing it.  Give me a game and I can't wait to start competing.  My heart jumped for joy yesterday when my 6 year old boy, Kaden, said to me, "Dad, let's throw the baseball."  "Yes!!", I thought to myself and gave a little fist pump in my mind.  It seems like he could do it for hours.  I love it.  I can get lost in it.  There's something very rhythmic about throwing the ball back and forth.  It's soothing for my spirit, mind and body.  Does anyone else feel that way?  I get the same feeling with Alex - only he usually wants me to throw him football passes - especially the kind where he can dive for it!  There's nothing better than connecting with my boys in this way - through action and sports.  I never want it to end and I hope it never does.

LISTS - My second love.  Does anyone else love lists like I do?  Give me a task and I love to check it off my list.  I love to make them, then sort them in my Franklin Planner and then one-by-one check them off.  The only problem is, I also hate lists.  Especially at the end of the day and I've only done 30% of what I planned.  What happened?  A typical end of the day thought in mind when I look at the low check count in my planner is: "What the heck was I thinking I could get so much done?"  That's the problem with lists - they put me under pressure and they can set me up for failure if I'm not too careful. 

So, what am I going to do with this list of 63 things?!  I'm going to pick my Top 10 and commit to doing them this year. That's do-able.  And, plus, these seem to be sensible and easy.  Here are some of my favorites already:

Do Lunch - take your kid out of school and do something just the two of you during lunch hour - that's pretty cool!

Camp out - pitch a tent in the backyard. 

Puddle Jumping

Stuff a time capsule

Read kid classics (we're reading Prince Caspian together now)

Build an obstacle course in your backyard

Send me your Top 10 list.

How Global Culture Impacts Worship

Roberta King (phD) at Fuller School of Cultural Studies wrote a very interesting article on the impact of Global Culture on music and worship in the church.  Check it out.

This article speaks to the heart of what we are trying to do at Go Global Entertainment. We are called to incorporate multi-cultural experiences into our worship - giving greater appreciation to the worship music of all the nations.  As Roberta, in her article, so elequently says:

We are called to reconsider the manner in which we interweave the musical tapestry of global worship, looking for new configurations of church music that center God’s people on the Lamb, the one who is worthy of our worship.

Amen!

Eric